With U-Pass, all of D.C. is just a tap away — but with all those options, where do you start?
Navigating the six color-based lines can feel like spinning a color wheel if you’re not accustomed to it. But even for the inexperienced, traversing the city and surrounding suburbs by rail lets you view the District’s diverse neighborhoods, food scene and sports all in a day’s work.
Here are daylong adventures you can take along the District’s various Metro lines:
Blue Line
While large swaths of the middle of D.C. are accessible via the Blue, Orange and Silver lines, which mostly cover the same routes, hopping aboard the Blue Line provides easier access to suburban highlights. Start your day at Arlington National Cemetery, one of the most underrated tourist attractions in the area.
Not only is it home to iconic American monuments like the Iwo Jima Memorial or Arlington House, but on a sunny day, it rivals the much more popular National Mall in beauty with more than 9,000 trees lining the walkways.
After your morning stroll, head three stops south to Crystal City, a bustling riverside part of Arlington. Catch a movie and have lunch at Alamo Drafthouse, a dine-in movie theater with a range of food from classics like bottomless popcorn ($10.95) to items you won’t find in another theater like avocado toast ($11.95).
The theater screens new releases, but regularly shows beloved classics like “Casablanca” and “The Virgin Suicides,” sometimes at a reduced price. Aside from the movie, there is also a fully stocked bar moviegoers can frequent.
To end the day, take the long ride back into the District and catch the city’s premier farmers market, Eastern Market. Vendors peddle anything from fresh fruit to ancient antiques out of their shops on Tuesdays and the weekends. If you come on another day, fear not. Eastern Market is also home to a vast collection of indoor and outdoor vendors, ranging from flower salespeople to sellers as uber-specific as a stand for Greek superfoods, delicacies especially rich in nutrients.
Red Line
If you’d prefer to stroll up to Farragut North and set off on your Metro journey via the Red Line, you can start your day just a stop away and disembark at Dupont Circle. Begin with some caffeine at Teaism, an appropriately named tea-centric café in Dupont Circle.
Teaism is the go-to for all things tea, and with a wide selection, there’s something for everyone. Whether you like traditional black tea or contemporary boba milk tea, you’ll find your drink here. Running at just $3 to $4 a pot, Teaism certainly won’t break the bank. Plus, if you’re falling behind on the semester already, the abundance of tables and chic lighting make Teaism a viable study spot.
Next, tap your U-Pass again and embark to the Brookland-CUA stop, home of the Catholic University of America. The campus feels more like a place you’d find in a bizarrely named Upstate New York town rather than the District, providing a welcome change of pace from the bustle of Foggy Bottom.
Catholic University is also home to one of the most stunning churches in America, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, complete with an ornate blue-and-yellow dome. Besides being a church, it also holds an impressive art collection that visitors can request a tour of for free.
Take the Metro west to Gallery Place-Chinatown and grab an early dinner at Spice 6, a peppery modern Indian restaurant. Stick with something you know like butter chicken, or stuff your face with a “Bahubali Burger,” a huge sandwich that combines Indian flavors with the quintessential American classic.
After dinner, walk around the block to Capital One Arena to catch a Washington Wizards game. The Wizards’ dearth of success has led to a similar dearth in attendance, meaning you can sometimes score tickets for as low as $1.
Green Line
The Green and Yellow lines both traverse many of the same areas in the District, and unless your goal is quality time in corporate Virginia, hopping aboard the Green Line gives more of an opportunity to explore the District’s diverse northern neighborhoods. Start at L’Enfant Plaza, often misunderstood as a transit hub because five Metro lines cross paths below.
But just around the corner is the International Spy Museum, one of the more eccentric museums in a city filled with museums. The highlight of the exhibit has to be James Bond’s iconic Aston Martin, on display in the museum lobby.
After, walk a couple of blocks south to get to the Waterfront, one of the most vibrant locales in the District. Take a nice stroll along the Anacostia River and just enjoy the ambiance. In the neighborhood is Politics and Prose, an indie bookstore.
With your new reads in tow, head north along the green line to the Shaw-Howard U stop. Grab half a lunch at Doro Soul Food, just outside the Metro, and save the other half for Los Cinco Tacos, a 5-minute walk away.
These two recently opened restaurants are well on their way to becoming D.C. staples. Doro is a bold Ethiopian American fusion that introduces new flavors to soul food staples. The chicken is certainly more fulfilling than whatever Thurston serves on a given day, but get the vegan tenders if you want to try some truly innovative food that blends Ethiopian and soul flavors.
D.C. is a barren landscape if you’re a Mexican-food lover, but the food at Los Cinco Tacos will make you feel like you’re in the middle of East Los Angeles, one of the Mexican food capitals of the world. The restaurant offers a rotating “special of the week” taco, which means every time you go, you can try a new taco.
The District’s world-class public transportation is one of the greatest perks of being a student at GW. With so much city to explore, Metro can be your travel companion on any given day.
